My Thoughts

I'm not seeing the connection. Thanksgiving (I've always thought) is about being thankful for what good things you've gotten during the year. Also for remembering how the Indians helped the pilgrims to survive that rough first year.

Thanksgiving was made to celebrate the fact that the Indians helped the Pilgrims survive their voyage. The same pilgrims that Columbus brought over. It is in no way shape or form a religious thing. It might have been tried to be turned into one, but that isn't the meaning of Thanksgiving.

If it was religious, then why did we use to decorate with Indians, Pilgrims and corn-o-copias.

Columbus was Italian. Candy, I don't know how this lead to an illegal thing, but it wasn;t illegals protesting Columbus Day on here.

The connection is that these pilgrims were brought over by Columbus. If we won't celebrate Columbus as it is called a sham, then why celebrate Thanksgiving - when it was the same people that he brought over here that survived to later kill the same people who helped them live.

Candy, it was Amerigo Vespuchi that actually discovered America, and that is why it is named for him. You are right.

Columbus never set foot in America, much less guide the Pilgrims here! LOL! Funny!

Even growing up and going to Catholic School, we were taught what Thanksgiving was. Every play, every article, everything ever written shows Thanksgiving was the Pilgrims giving thanks to the Indians for feeding and helping them survive.

Thanksgiving isn't in the Bible Frank. Therefore, it isn't a religious holiday. All Americans celebrate Thanksgiving except for the Native Americans. They always protest Thanksgiving. Is this because it's religious?

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Athesists, Witches, Budists, Tao...everyone celebrates this holiday if they consider themselves American. Next we'll hear how the 4th of July is a celebration of Christ.

Hey DVS...you are right...I got lost in my own anger regarding the stupid festivals...but you are absolutely right..Thanksgiving was about the Indians and the Pilgrims giving thanks for the food..........thanks for bringing me back to earth................lol......AND A HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL...........

I could have swore the first Thanksgiving was with the Pilgrims that Columbus brought over. Hmmm, was it someone else who brought them over for that 1st Thanksgiving? I thought for sure it was during his first voyage here.

Also RNC you weren't the only one on here protesting Columbus Day. Many did.

The First Thanksgiving


The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag Indians.

Days of thanksgiving were celebrated throughout the colonies after fall harvests. All thirteen colonies did not, however, celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time until October 1777. George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789.



A New National Holiday


By the mid–1800s, many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving.

In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains.


Look around on the internet. Alot of interesting facts about Thanksgiving.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tgturkey1.html

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisit
e_Generic&content_type_i

Wow, it is 2008. Are you still working on a book, or did you just get busy? Anyway, hope you have a great new year. Take care DVS1.